The Final Solution

The BLM is still accepting public comments on their Final Gather plan for the last 147 wild horses of the West Douglas HMA.

Zeroed out after long and lengthy legal battles that ended on October 10, 2007, the BLM Director dismissed all protests of the decision (1) and now BLM is revving up their engines to take them out starting October 1, 2008 and will continue indefinitely until they are only memories.

The Final Plan (or should we say Solution?) can be viewed by clicking Here and includes “humane standards” of limiting helicopter driving of the horses to 5 miles if snow is over a foot and/or canceling helicopter captures if temperatures drop to –10 degrees below 0.

So we finally started getting some answers about what BLM considers “humane treatment”!

The Cloud Foundation and Volunteer Executive Director Ginger Kathrens have posted her letter to BLM (Click Here to View) and is urging everyone to please contact BLM to voice your concerns.

The central focus of BLMs decision to revoke the West Douglas’s federally protected status stemmed from officials determining the 128k-acre habitat is only capable of supporting 60 wild horses. BLM has decided this population is too small to be naturally self-sustaining or genetically viable. But didn’t the Interior Board of Land Appeals just rule that BLM could supplement herds if they were too small? Click Here to see IBLA Ruling (172 IBLA 128)

Only 4 herds remain out of 8 with a state “appropriate management level” of 812 wild horses, which means wild horses are allowed 9,744 Animal Unit Months (AUM) of forage per year.

For comparison purposes, the State of Colorado authorizes 219,664 head of livestock annually totaling 573,918 AUMs of forage and their 2007 free-roaming elk population was estimated between 250,000 to 260,000 - elk herds have been reported at 10-15% above population management objectives for over 20 years. (2)

Just the White River Field Office alone, who authorized the irrevocable loss of the West Douglas Herd, doles out a generous 118,441 AUMs for exclusive livestock use totaling 41,478 head while the 60 wild horses that were considered too small to be genetically viable and therefore must be removed were issued 720 AUMs.

One of the main livestock allotments occurring in the West Douglas HMA, Twin Buttes, was re-authorized by BLM in 2005 to run over 3,900 head of cattle totaling 11,500 AUMs. The other main livestock allotment in the West Douglas HMA is controlled by Cripple Creek Cowboy Company, proud recipient of over $77k dollars in livestock subsidies between 1996-2006 (3) but public lands statistics reports showing how many cattle are being run on his allotments are mysteriously “unavailable”.

Anybody else think it’s funny that the Twin Butte livestock allotment, which spans 140k acres can support 3,900 cattle but the West Douglas Herd Management Area, which spans 128k acres can only support 60 wild horses?

If you have any questions about how illegal this is, read BLMs Code of Federal Regulation 43 CFR 4710.5(a) Closure To Livestock Grazing, which states: "If necessary to provide habitat for wild horses or burros, to implement herd management actions, or to protect wild horses or burros from disease, harassment or injury, the authorized officer may close appropriate areas of the public lands to grazing use by all or a particular kind of livestock."

Turns out Colorado Senator Wayne Allard (R) is a personal advocate for the permittees and has interceded with BLM on their behalf to make sure we know where the beef is. He is a member of 12 different subcommittees in the House of Representatives, including the Minority Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Interior Environment and Related Agencies and keeps his fingers in wide variety of pies.

If you would like to tell Senator Allard or other Colorado representatives just what you think of what they are allowing to happen to one of Colorado’s last remaining herds just to stuff a few more cattle, elk and oil wells on the land, Click Here for contact information.

Unfortunately, American Herds has just found out about the comment period for the West Douglas Herd and there is almost no time left! If you would like to be herd, you must submit your comments by May 23, 2008 before 4:30 p.m. for BLM to consider them.

~Contact Info~
BLM White River Field Office
220 East Market Street
Meeker, CO 81641
Fax: (970) 878-3805
Phone: (970) 878-3800
Melissa Kindall Melissa_Kindall@blm.gov

Please include the proposal number
EA# CO-110-2008-052-EA in your submission.

Photo is of a captured wild horse taken from the East Douglas Herd.

All Herd Statistics taken from BLM Herd Statistics Fiscal Year 2007 www.blm.gov Wild Horse & Burro Program
All grazing authorizations and cattle numbers taken from BLM Public Land Statistics – Colorado http://www.blm.gov/landandresourcesreports/rptapp/menu.cfm?appCd=6

(1) BLM Press Release – October 11, 2007 http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Information/newsroom/2007/west_douglas_decision.html(2) Elk Management of 5 Western States – No Longer Available online
(3) Farm Subsidy Data Base – 2006 Reports http://farm.ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009388698

At The Root

Whether you’re passion is wild horses and burros, wildlife or just someone who loves to go hiking around in nature, eventually we all run into the same issue; the degradation of public lands by poorly managed livestock grazing and our government authorizing unsustainable numbers for decades.

The question becomes why…..

Why does public lands ranching have such a death grip on our natural resources? How is it that after all these years, little has changed despite overwhelming evidence of the damage? Why, despite all the laws and many, many good dedicated people in the government agencies themselves that have tried to effect change, nothing substantial can be done? Why is it that report after report submitted to Congress clearly outlining the mismanagement and malfeasance of livestock grazing to our resources, including wild horses and burros, is met with indifference as they not only continue to support livestock grazing but will viciously fight for the rights of ranchers time and time again? And how is it possible that just a handful of ranchers who produce less than 3% of America’s beef on public lands continue to wield so much power over our Nation?

Well, the answer is, they don’t. The banks do, just like everything else these days and it’s the banks that continue to dictate American policy and cause Congress to ask “How high?” when they ask them to jump.

In Mike Hudaks' Western Turf Wars – The Politics Of Public Lands Ranching, an interview with Mike Sauber sums it up in a nutshell and what he describes should send chills down anyone’s spine who cares for America’s resources, “our” public lands and why the current system has eternally doomed us to failure until there will be nothing left but dust.

Mr. Sauber so aptly and clearly describes America’s real predicament in this powerful truth so often hidden from public view when he states: “People typically assume that ranchers have a lot of power, but it’s not really true. It’s the banks holding the estimated $2 billion that’s loaned out on grazing permits on western public lands that have the power. Our public lands are being used as collateral for bank loans. Our wilderness areas, archaeological sites, watersheds, wildlife habitat is being mortgaged – used as collateral for bank loans of ranchers that are buying base properties with grazing permits attached to them.”

If you really want to know the truth about America and our resources, Western Turf Wars is just an amazing public service. If you already care about what you see going on around you, it has incredible insight on multiple levels as to why our public resource system is such a mess. If you didn’t give it much thought before, by the time you finish this book, you might find yourself suddenly caring very much!

To order a copy or read other reviews of Mike Hudaks' Western Turf Wars – The Politics of Public Lands Ranching, Click Here.

The photo above was taken from the Simpson Park Complex Rangeland Health Evaluation published by BLM in 2005. The original photo was of Barton Creek in Nevada taken in August 2003 and all the damage was attributed exclusively to excessive livestock grazing. It is one of hundreds, if not thousands of our "natural springs" and what's left of them.

The Devil's In The Details

The end of 2007 found BLM removing wild horses from the Antelope and Antelope Valley Herd Management Areas (HMAs) to prevent “catastrophic loss of life”. The ongoing drought coupled with reports of wild horses numbering almost 1,200 forced BLM to declare an emergency gather to save them from starvation and protect the range.

If that weren’t enough, traditionally the wild horses spend the summers in Antelope then migrate to Antelope Valley for the winter ~ except the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) strung up a new fence up on Hwy 93 effectively trapping the horses and in one area, completely cut them off from any water at all.

Speaking to BLMs Kyle Hansen in the Ely Field Office, Mr. Hansen explained range conditions were so bad due to drought that it “looked like an atom bomb went off” and provided photos as evidence of the dust bowl conditions the wild horses would be forced to try and survive in over the winter in if they were not immediately removed.

He also stated compounding the problem was a local rancher who had allowed wild horses to drink water from his property for years but finally “had enough”, fenced the area and now the horses that remained would probably die of thirst.

It’s almost a noble story and one that is often repeated; saving wild horses from dying of starvation and dehydration, protecting the range, wildlife, and ranchers ~ so much of the situation being out of BLMs control and leaving them very little options to preserve wild herds except by removals.

Yet when you look into the details, the story starts to fall apart.

While NDOT may have strung up a new fence, Mr. Hansen stated they never consulted with BLM before beginning and frankly, that’s very hard to believe. There are right of way issues requiring consultation with federal agencies and NDOT not even notifying BLM of a major fencing project that would destroy the Antelope horses migration routes is highly suspicious. Can’t prove this though….

Then there’s the rancher that allowed wild horses to drink his water for years yet now suddenly has a change of heart. Was he paid off to do that? Maybe hassled and intimidated by those who realized if they could get that water source shut down, the wild horses in the area would perish?

Can’t prove this either but there’s a few other questions that have some very interesting answers.

The photo below is one of sixty-four photos provided courtesy of Mr. Hansen to illustrate the devastation of the range. During our phone conversation, Mr. Hansen stated that a few of the photos still had cattle in them but those had all been taken off prior to the Antelope wild horse removals. Those are cattle in the background on the right.

Here’s the first problem with this story. This photo and all the photos BLM sent came tagged with the date, time and model of the camera used, part of a standard format imprinted in photos taken from digital cameras. All sixty-four photos were taken on December 4th, 2006, with a Canon EOS 30D, a year before this potential “catastrophic loss of life” to wild horses.

In other words, that screwed up range photo is “normal” for the area. Well, as normal as an area like this could be during drought conditions and heavily grazed by livestock. But it was NOT reflective of what range conditions actually were despite Mr. Hansen stating the photos were current. No wonder he could say in good conscience that the cattle in the photo had already been removed ~ it was a year old!

Somehow the Antelope wild horses not only managed to live a year in this before BLM announced the need for emergency removals, they were thriving according to the amount of foals being born. Yet despite 1,200 wild horses being counted in the area, not one photo BLM provided showed a single wild horse anywhere.

It’s also interesting to keep in mind as you look at that photo that the wild horses are removed to protect the “thriving ecological balance” and prevent deterioration of the range. Then ask yourself, how much more deteriorated can it get?

Yet BLM continues to authorize almost over 34,000 Animal Unit Months (AUM) of forage for livestock just in the Antelope HMA alone. Here’s a map of the grazing allotments in the Antelope and Antelope Valley HMAs. The green lines indicate the HMA boundaries and the brown dotted lines are the grazing allotment boundaries.

Here are the forage allocations given to wild horses and livestock in just the Antelope HMA.

There’s some other problems too.

The Antelope horses were rounded up in 2002 and again in late 2004. Before the 2004 round ups, BLM estimated about 950 wild horses were on the Antelope ranges yet when they finished, they removed over 1,500. After the 2004 round ups, BLM said they left 160 in Antelope and 140 in Antelope Valley and injected the mares with PZP, a three year fertility control drug that is suppose to slow down reproduction by 90% in the first year.

Yet three years later, BLM reports that Antelope now has almost 1,200 wild horses again; 745 in Antelope and 436 in Antelope Valley. That’s a 40% annual reproduction rate despite the birth control and extreme drought conditions.

BLM began removing wild horses on 12/10/07 and according to the Final Gather Report, they finished the Antelope Valley HMA by 12/15. In their summary totals, BLM stated that 413 were removed but when adding up the removals on the daily sheet, only 309 were rounded up, not 413.

The Antelope HMA removals began on 12/16/07, finished on 1/11/08 and again, in the summary totals BLM reported removing 434 but the daily totals showed 539 were removed, not 434.

Also odd were the daily removal numbers themselves as three days reported capturing 0 wild horses and five days brought in less than 20 with most of those recorded during the last week of the round ups.

So if there are still 300 wild horses left in the Antelope HMA as BLM claims, then why did the numbers being captured slow down to a trickle in that last week? Why are wild horses in the area quadrupling even with birth control? Why did BLM feel the need to juggle the numbers in their reports? And why did BLM provide old photos of the range but claimed they were current if everything going on the Antelope area is on the up and up?

(1) Top photo taken from BLMs Internet Adoption website, #1494, captured 1/20/05, Antelope HMA.
(2) 2007 Antelope Emergency Gather EA #NV-040-08-EA-04 can be viewed at http://budget.state.nv.us/clearinghouse/Notice/2008/E2008-228.pdf

(3) Antelope Final Gather Report provided courtesy of BLM, Nevada WH&B Lead Susie Stokke.

A Real Extreme Mustang Makeover

While on the subject of sterilizing wild horse herds, BLM has posted their Strategic Research Plan developed in 2003 on how to control wild horse and burro populations.

The Strategic Plan is filled with informative insight by some our Nation’s top experts including BLM, US Geological Survey (USGS), the Biological Resource Division (BRD) and the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Lots of long titles, I know, all designed to impress the reader with the weight and authority of their statements.

The plan was developed over a period of 9 months with the input of 39 subject area experts from 11 universities, 3 federal agencies (BLM, USGS-BRD, APHIS), and two state wildlife agencies as well as the Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board, 5 expert committees in 2001, input from BLM managers and specialists assigned to the Wild Horse and Burro Program, periodic milestone decisions by the BLM, upon the research findings and direction, and earlier review of BLM and BRD research (Smith et al. 1996; Gross et al. 1999; Burnham et al. 1999; Population Viability Forum 1999; National Research Council 1991). It was upon this foundation that the strategic plan was built.

Yet from the looks of it, most involved were on the government payroll, whether through University grants, careers in the Department of the Interior, appointed government approved committees or state wildlife agencies. No wild horse and burro advocates were invited with the exception of the current reigning queen of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, Robin Lohnes who has been doing a fine, fine job for America's wild horses and burros.

It was also interesting to note that in all their references, studies, and “expert committees” used for guidance, the Government Accountability Report that found BLM managers were catering to livestock interests at the expense of the horses and the law was never considered as they revved up “strategic plans” to keep the populations from reproducing.

Nor were there any discussions about how wild horse and burro population targets have been set, many as old as dirt and NEVER revisited, or how the overpopulation of horses and burros is a result of decisions based on financial or political pressures that established these arbitrary numbers to appease those interests.

Nor is it discussed that maybe, just maybe, if these government agencies weren’t so busy managing the natural world to death, they wouldn’t have to devise a “Strategic Plan” to control their meddling (even sounds like a war program, doesn’t it?)

In assessing the situation, experts stated, “Wild horses and burros have a considerable following in the American public who consider the animals to be part of their western heritage and aesthetic enjoyment of the federal lands. A number of advocacy groups maintain that wild horses and burros should receive the first preference in any conflicts with other resource uses on lands where they are protected.”

Note the key words in there, on lands where they are protected! Despite having significantly less habitat than the 630 million acres wildlife has or only allowed on a fraction of the land that livestock is, wild horse and burro advocates actually want the wild horses and burros to be the first consideration on lands where they are protected.

Apparently this crazy idea only applies to any other species on their "protected habitat" but no worries, wild horses and burros aren’t even close to being placed as a priority and that is why the “excess” populations are so desperately in need of control!

The report goes on, stating, “Several strong and diverse public interest groups pressure the U.S. Department of the Interior regarding the management of wild horses on public lands. These interests include, at one extreme, those who strongly support the protection and management of wild horses with little or no human intervention. At the other end of the spectrum are those who favor intense management of wild horses and burros, with an objective to maintain very low numbers of horses and burros. Elements of the public, such as those that pursue domestic livestock grazing and the harvest of big game wildlife, may view wild horses and burros as some competitors for other resource uses.”

Extreme, huh? Do we geld bighorn sheep? Do we brand sage grouse? Do we inject PZP into pygmy rabbits? Aren’t these species pretty much left alone to be wildlife? How is asking wild horses and burros be treated like any other wildlife species extreme?

Then the Management Challenge section goes on to state, “Survival rates for wild horses on western public lands are high. None of the significant natural predators from native ranges of the wild horse in Europe and Asia — wolves, brown bears, and possibly one or more of the larger cat species — exist on the wild horse ranges in the western United States (mountain lions and black bears take foals in a few herds, but predation contributes to population limitation in only a handful of herds (e.g., Montgomery Pass). In some cases, adult annual survival rates exceed 95% and many horse herds grow at sustained high rates of 15-22% per year.”

First notice that their "native ranges" are now Europe and Asia, not North America commonly refered to as the "Cradle of Equine Evolution" by equine experts NOT involved in these strategic plans.

Second, notice that sustained high rates is defined as 15-22% per year. Yet, in BLMs recent assessments on wild horse and burro removals and the need to control them, figures are now being thrown out as high as 30-32% - with fertility control! And since BLM can’t seem to figure out most of the time if 100 or 1,000 wild horses are on the range, how would they know what the fertility rates are anyway?

Love the predator line too. Someone has recently corrected me on my last post about “hundreds of predators are killed each year” as the real statistics look something like this;

In 2006, Wildlife “Services” killed 1.6 million animals including coyotes, wolves, bobcats, cougars, badgers and bears, down from the 2.7 million killed in 2004. They spend over $100 million dollars a year to bring down “undesirable” wildlife species, which just happens to include all those “no-natural predators” wild horses and burros “don’t have” that they find it necessary to spend millions more on round ups and strategic research projects for. (1)

Which, back to the subject at hand, is what the Plan is mostly about – experiments on wild horse and burro populations that include such choice items as the “hormonal sterilant” used on stallions that could enter the food chain (of no natural predators) and the silicone rod implants, also suspended because of “the invasive nature of the surgery and the unacceptable stress placed on mares.” Wonder what that really looked like?

To read or download your copy of
The Strategic Research Plan
Wild Horse and Burro Management

Click Here

(1) Wildlife and predator statistics supplied by Wild Earth Guardians at http://www.wildearthguardians.org/

Two Plus Two Equals Five

It's the "funny math" that never adds up but somehow always seems to work when it comes to free-roaming wild horses and burros. The myth of overpopulation (and all the arguments that support it) gets regurgitated over and over again; by BLM, by state wildlife departments also known as Fish & Game, by the mainstream media and even by those who claim to staunchly support wild horses and burros and know a lot about them.

When was the last time anyone read or heard about the overpopulation of excess wild horses or burros in context with everything else?

We don't hear about it because the people that make these quotes with such authority would sure look stupid if they did and the decimation of our herds would be a lot harder to sell if the thriving ecological balance wild horses and burros are unrelentingly removed to "protect" were actually included in those conversations and articles.

What is really being protected is the economic and political interests of those who exploit the American taxpayers and our "public" resources. It's a funny kind of math that determines what is excessive but it sure seems to be working so far. If they were telling the truth, it would look something like:

"The 27,000 free-roaming wild horses throughout the West are 1,500 more animals than the BLM has determined can exist in balance with other uses without causing damage to the range in order to protect it for over 9 million cattle, 700,000 elk, 600,000 pronghorn antelope and though they now number less than 3,000, wild burros continue to threaten habitat of the native species bighorn sheep, recently reported as topping the 50,000 mark.

After World War II, one of the most puzzling questions that plagued humanitarians about the Holocaust was, how did Nazi brass so thoroughly convince their soldiers and citizens to support their agendas and atrocities?

One test psychologist performed trying to find out involved taking a group of adults and using repetitive brainwashing techniques to convince them that 2 + 2 = 5. In all cases, the subjects finally believed 2 + 2 = 5, despite having years of knowledge to the contrary. This is what has been going on with the myth of overpopulation of wild horses and burros - if you repeat it enough, they will believe.....

So here's another example of some other "funny math" being used on wild horses and burros to eliminate them.

In 2005, BLM used complicated formulas and the Use Pattern Mapping technique to determine the "appropriate" population for the Johnnie Herd Management Area in southern Nevada.

In 1995, BLM reported that 34,351 acres was measured at "heavy use" as the wild horses and burros of the area had mowed down 61-80% of the forage. Said to predominately occur around the two lone springs in the HMA, this equated to over 53 square miles and didn't include the other 30 miles reported as being used "moderately" (41-60%).

It gets better too. One year later, these same wild horses and burros were reported as now impacting 48,957 acres at "heavy use" or over 76 square miles with another 12 miles at moderate use levels. (1)

If that wasn't enough, records from 1998 show that the Johnnie HMA hadn't even been established yet - it was still part of the entire Spring Mountain Complex, which was officially broken apart to create three separate HMAs through the 1998 Las Vegas Resource Management Plan. BLM reported a census was conducted in 1997 and the total population for all three HMAs spanning 575k acres was merely 61 wild horses and 46 wild burros. (2)

Yes, BLM could have removed tons of horses and burros in between that time - they reported removals occurred in five of the years between 1995 and 2004 when they were doing the rangeland evaluations used to establish the "allowable management levels". BLM stated removals occurring in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, so there is a missing gather from the records.....

So now the burning question is - how many wild horses and burros does it take to eat 60-80% of the plants in 76 square miles around the two springs? I wonder if all those horses locked up in long-term holding pens think two plus two equals five as well?

As for wild horses and burros having no natural predators, the photo used was of a mountain lion tracked and shot by using the "research only" radio collar that signaled the cat had left its approved boundaries in Arizona's Kofa Wildlife Refuge, recently targeted for a lawsuit that claims managers secretly approved plans to turn the Refuge into a big game reserve for bighorn sheep. This mountain lion is one of hundreds of predators killed each year through taxpayer-funded programs mostly used to protect livestock and big game interests.


1. All statistics, data and reports taken from the BLM Las Vegas Field Office, September 2005, Johnnie, Muddy Mountains and Wheeler Pass Herd Management Areas Environmental Assessment for Establishment of Appropriate Management Levels.
2. Wikipedia - One square mile is equal to 640 acres, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre
3. "Nevada Wild Horse Management Plan - For Federal Lands" - Draft, Appendix E, Nevada BLM Wild Horse Statistics (9-30-97)
4. Photo from "Biologist fights AZGFD game farm on Kofa Refuge", 4/02/08 http://dpatterson.blogspot.com/2008/04/biologist-fights-azgfd-game-farm-on.html

PROVE IT!

We agreed to meet in a little bar that had a reputation for good food and after the introductions, jumped right into the reason for our long drive. Horse rustling is what it use to be called and the people that sat across from me were adamant – “They took our horses!”

Over the weekend of August 6th, 2006, residents noticed a helicopter flying repeatedly over their houses. They were used to it though, as government agencies of one sort or another were always flying and driving around and most didn’t pay too much attention - except one guy who actually went out to see if he could find out what all the ruckus was about.

He said he found a collection of temporary pens set up and a wrangler hanging out by the gate who explained, “they” were there to pick up about 200 horses. Later, when asked to come forward and testify to this fact, the man refused as many of the residents did, mostly because they held a variety of government jobs and feared retaliation if they spoke up.

The people sitting across from me described what life was like there, a small little mountain community that had the unusual advantage of wild horses wandering through the yards on a daily basis. All had been named and they told stories describing each horses personality, how many foals showed up over the spring and scattered photos everywhere as they tried to impress upon me how intimately they knew the habits and hierarchy of the local herds.

“One of the twins is missing”, one said describing a little black foal that had a perfect white heart outlined in the center of its chest. “And all the paints are gone too”, another added.

For over two weeks, they had been driving around on their ATVs and hiking back into the farthest reaches of where the herds were known to hang out but every expedition had ended the same – most of the horses they knew were now gone.

One of them was just kicking themselves as it was THAT weekend they had been away on a long-planned trip and it was only when they returned, they noticed how empty the place had become. They started asking neighbors if they noticed too and this led to the guy and his conversation with the wrangler about the 200 horses being picked up.

Everybody started calling BLM and US Forest Service, demanding an investigation into who took the horses.

At first, BLM just tried to ignore them but residents would not be put off until someone came out to take a look. “Cranky” was the word used to describe BLMs attitude (okay, it was really “shitty” but I felt I should clean it up a little).

Once BLM went out and did their mandatory drive by, they told everyone “Okay, we drove around, nothing happened, the horses are just up in the hills” but residents weren’t buying it because they knew those horses and swore they weren’t anywhere to be found.

So they did what every other sane person would do – they scheduled a flight with a helicopter pilot to fly around the area to see if they could find the horses themselves.

When BLM found out about it, suddenly attitudes changed and they started taking residents claims of horse rustling very seriously - they even had high level officials fly down to meet with them to discuss their concerns.

First, BLM told everyone that they would conduct the flight and report back on how many they found, they even volunteered to provide an “independent observer” from a horse advocacy group, which turned out to have a long history of pro-BLM support - of course no resident from the community was allowed to go along for the ride.

When that didn’t work, BLM reminded them if they flew a helicopter over those wild horses themselves, it would be considered harassment, something illegal that BLM was prepared to pursue, and in the end the residents became afraid and cancelled the flight.

The missing horses, including the little black foal, have never been seen again but miraculously, when BLM conducted the official round ups of the herds later that year, they reported hundreds of horses were captured and removed from the area, proving once and for all that no wild horses had ever been taken just as they had been telling everyone all along…..

Except no one was allowed to see the round ups, the location of the holding pens were strictly guarded, a massive police presence made up of BLM, US Forest Service, and State Fish & Game wardens lined the highways keeping the public at bay and the local news helicopter found BLM escorting them out of “their air space” as they tried to get some independent footage of the operations.

One of the horse advocate groups the residents contacted right after they discovered the horses were gone asked if anyone had taken photos of the helicopter, explaining that it took a pretty big outfit to scoop up 200 wild horses in just a few days and they only knew of a few contractors capable of handling that kind of operation - but no one knew they were stealing horses at the time so no one thought to take photos of just another helicopter.

In a 1998, a news article buried in the wild horse archives titled, “The Horses Rustlers: How Scam Artists Abuse a Federal Adoption Program for Wild Horses”, reporter Wendy Williams interviewed ex-BLM special agent Steve Sederwall, who provides detailed accounts of how the BLM regularly rounded up and sold wild horses to killer buyers in lucrative, under the table deals.

Sederwall suspected BLM employees themselves were setting up the horse rustling programs, pocketing $500.00 for every horse they illegally sold and stated they were able to do this because the wild horses were never branded at the trap sites. Some were loaded on one truck and some loaded on another and nobody could tell the difference between a federally protected “wild horse” and just a plain old horse headed for the slaughter house, like tens of thousands did every year.

This is what the mountain community residents had feared most – an illegal operation that sent their beloved horses to slaughter but BLM tied their hands at every turn and in the end, the horses disappeared forever.

Sederwall also claimed part of BLMs scam was to pick up wild horses from one area in secret and take them to another area to prove an “overpopulation”, which now justified new rounded ups. Then BLM would scoop up all the secretly transported horses plus the original herds because the goal was to provide the forage in the area for livestock instead – plus picking up some serious cash for their efforts.

Thinking about this myself, it would seem to me that this would also help BLM support their allegations of incredibly high reproductive rates, some BLM has reported as high as 60%, never mind that the National Academy of Science reported wild horses and burros reproduced at 10% or less - more often less. This keeps the funding in motion, justifies the constant round ups, and feeds the myth of wild horse excess and overpopulation that keeps taxpayer money flowing to contractors and employees alike.

Lately, the mountain community residents have been reporting dozens of wild horses showing up they have never seen. The horses are drawn to the abundant water in the area and amazingly, it is starting to look like another “overpopulation” is beginning to happen, despite round ups taking over 1,000 wild horses just last year and BLM reporting they left less than 100.

When I asked if the new horses could be abandoned instead, the residents absolutely swear they are wild stating, "You can tell the difference between a wild horse and a domestic horse with just a glance and these horses are wild. We know the difference!"

Meanwhile, BLM just laughingly tells the public, “Prove It!”

Want Versus Need

I want to take a moment out to honor the incredible leap of faith the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs & Burros has taken this past six months by extending every bit of their resources to protect over 300 Virginia Range horses from going to slaughter.

In a recent newsletter ISPMB has stated that their efforts have successfully adopted out 263 of these historical horses!

But it has not come without a price. With the cost of everything skyrocketing and effecting each and everyone one of us, every time we go to the gas pumps we are aware of how expensive things are getting so fast! The price of hay has almost doubled in the last year and the drought South Dakota was pummeled with last summer has left very little reserves for ISPMB to provide for these "saved" horses.

So I would like to take a moment out to ask again for people to chip in and donate something, anything to this noble organization to show support for their heroic efforts and the leap of faith ISPMB took to save those horses from the slaughterhouses.

Please take a hard look at what you "want" versus what you need and considering giving up a want to help with a true need - the need of these horses and the people who have so bravely stepped forward to insure they were safe. Every bit will help and even a little from everyone will make a huge difference!

A few months back, I was cruising through the website of another horse sanctuary that had put out a call for help to save a group of horses headed for slaughter. They were asking for any amount but all I had was $15.00 to give. I was so embarrassed at how little this was that I almost gave into the temptation to not give anything at all. Thank God I decided that something was better than nothing and went through with donating the $15.00.

After I finished my transaction, I spent some more time looking around the site and came across a photo of this beautiful mare that had been saved from a horse slaughter auction for the grand tune of -can you guess? $15.00.....

I just started crying right on the spot. It had seemed such a pitiful amount to contribute but there I was, looking at the life $15.00 dollars had saved and it just absolutely stunned me that so little could do so much.

ISPMB has also asked that people consider being a monthly sponsor for the next 6 months, just so they will KNOW that their feed bills will be covered for all those beautiful horses allowed to still roam free on the sanctuary.

So PLEASE, consider helping ISPMB at this critical juncture in their courageous efforts by supporting those who support the horses.

Click Here to Donate Now

Thank you for your consideration.

Mirror

While government officials, big game specialists and some environmental experts continue to harass and eradicate federally protected free-roaming wild horses and burros under the guise of equines being an exotic species that endanger the “natives”, one doesn’t have far to look to see this rhetoric completely fall apart as their lies and true intent is reflected in the management of the undisputed native American bison.

Once estimated as 60-90 million strong and the central figure on the Department of the Interior’s Seal, the last free-roaming herd of buffalo has been crammed into the imaginary boundaries of Montana’s Yellowstone Park and apparently, even this last herd is only tolerated to promote a tourist attraction (similar to what Nevada State Senator, cattleman and hard core sagebrush rebel Dean Rhodes proposed for our free-roaming wild horse and burro herds). Any attempts by the buffalo to follow traditional migratory routes outside the Parks boundaries are greeted by officials with hazing, capture, and slaughter due to their “excessive” numbers.

The fabrications used to slaughter wild bison are just as hollow as those used against free-roaming wild horse and burro herds. Their justifications for buffalo slaughter are asserted with the same unquestionable authority with Park and state officials going back on their word, time and time again as they seek only to appease livestock and big game interests, treating the public as nothing more than a nuisance.

Currently, National Park Service is engaged in the biggest buffalo cull and slaughter of the decade with almost 1,200 buffalo being butchered just since November to prevent them from leaving the Park.

Officials claim that buffalo can transmit a disease to local cattle called brucellosis but there has never been one recorded case of transmission from buffalo to cattle ever happening in the wild.

In case you missed that the first time, let me repeat this. There has NEVER been one single recorded case of a brucellosis transmission from buffalo to cattle in the wild! Yet somehow this absolute fact is completely ignored as officials continue to use it as their justification to slaughter Yellowstone Parks bison to protect the cattle industry.

The same cannot be said for Montana’s free-roaming elk population, recently estimated at up to 160,000 and well-documented carriers and transmitters of the disease. This fact is also ignored by officials and illustrates the point of how much power Montana’s Fish & Game Department actually has and where the priorities are for “our” habitat and species specialists.

If that wasn’t enough to drop your jaw, try this one. The Buffalo Field Campaign, protectors and stewards of this last free-roaming herd of America’s bison have recently reported that the current buffalo slaughter is aimed at protecting 12-16 cattle that can be vaccinated against brucellosis – that’s it, barely a dozen cattle with the majority of the locals protesting National Parks Services continued eradication of these beautiful and iconic creatures.

Taxpayer funded, government approved, here is just a tiny piece of what has been going on with Yellowstone’s buffalo behind the tourist scene.

Last year, the Buffalo Field Campaign issued press releases on May 9th and 10th regarding Park officials hazing of the migrating buffalo stating: “Pregnant bison and day-old newborns, as well as other bison, were run off of public land in an aggressive manner by agents on horseback and a DOL helicopter…. One baby bison fell injured and sick from the aggressive and relentless nature of today's hazing operation…The bison, with numerous calves, were run for over 8 miles without rest, food or water.”

As the BFC crew tried to film what Park officials were doing to the bison, here is what happened.

“The second BFC volunteer, Dan Brister, was arrested minutes later while attempting to document the bison crossing the highway…….These arrests were the result of an overzealous law enforcement officer interfering with our rights to videotape a government operation," said Brister. "I complied with his orders, did not resist, and still he arrested me and used excessive force, tackling me to the ground."

Photo by Barbara Michelman-Courtesy of Buffalo Field Campaign
Copyright 2007-All Rights Reserved

"The rights of American citizens are being infringed upon…Government agencies are ignoring the voice of the American people and acting as rogue entities who answer to no law but their own." Buffalo Field Campaign - May 2007

In a more recent press release, BFC has reported that over 20,000 people have contacted government and state officials requesting an end to the current tactics and have presented real, viable solutions to allow buffalo to migrate undisturbed and free from slaughter. Yet, again we find our public servants completely ignoring the facts or the solutions as they pursue their single-minded course of “destroy non-revenue generating species” - native or not!

This is just the tip of the iceburg - the facts and stories of what has been really going on with America’s last remaining free-roaming bison herds have been well-documented by the tireless efforts of the Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers.

The BFC has recently put out an urgent call for people to get involved, to help, to speak out, and to stand strong to protect the last of these gentle natives from continued senseless slaughter. To learn more about America’s last remaining free-roaming wild bison herds, please go to:

Buffalo Field Campaign – Click Here

If this is how the last remaining herds of the “native” American bison are treated, what are the chances for our wild horses and burros?

Spanish Cerbats ~ Just A Theory?

In the last post, “Last of the Spanish Mustangs”, filmmaker Len Johnson focuses his documentary on the Spanish mustangs in the Cerbat Mountains of Arizona.

As is often the case, BLM records are relatively sketchy as to exactly what is and has gone on in the Cerbat herds protected habitat.

The 1993 Kingman Resource Management Plan discusses the Cerbats as a Herd Management Area. This means that through the planning process, BLM had determined the area was feasible for long-term management of wild horse herds. Yet today, BLMs website indicates that somewhere along the way, a change happened and the Cerbat area is now listed as a Herd Area instead.

The difference between a Herd Area and a Herd Management Area is still very fuzzy. The Herd Area was suppose to be declared by federal law as a protected habitat starting in 1971. Later, changes were made that allowed BLM to draw up new plans to determine if the wild horse and burro territories were actually viable for "management". If so, wild horses and burros were allowed to stay, if not, BLM removed them.

While Herd Areas were suppose to be the original areas protected by federal law, BLM has eliminated over 19 million acres of wild horse and burro habitat through the Herd Management Area planning process, often drawn with boundaries much smaller than the original Herd Areas.

This process can go back and forth. The Herd Area is suppose to be set in stone as it was identified as having wild horse or burro herds in 1971 (though prior records show that is not always the case). Then BLM sets about deciding if they can actually manage herds through a very complex process, sometimes several documents in the making, and if so, will declare the area fit for wild horse and burro use and give it Herd Management Area status.

However, a HMA designation is still subject to change and BLM can revoke the protected status through more planning processes and revert it back to Herd Area status. Usually, this is a foreboding of zeroing the area out completely for any further equid use such as what happened with the historic Clark Mountain wild burro herds in Southern California.

Lake Havasu in Arizona has just recently completed a new land use plan that stated wild burros would not be allowed outside the Herd Management boundaries even if they were still in the original Herd Area as well as no wild burros would be allowed in any Herd Areas at all and will now be removed.

So this brings us back to the Cerbat Herd Management Area, now classified as a Herd Area again. Is this a sign of things to come for the Cerbat wild horse herds?

In BLMs 1993 Resource Management Plan, BLM stated that 8 wild horses had been removed from Marble Canyon in 1989 and genetic testing concluded that “these wild horses were determined to be significant because of their genetic similarity to the early Spanish Barb horse.”

Today, we see BLM back-peddling on their historical significance as the description for the Cerbat Herd Area on BLMs website states:
“There are several popular beliefs on the origins of this herd. One theory is that the Cerbats are descendants of Spanish mustangs introduced as early as the 1500s. A second theory is that these horses escaped from early 1700s' explorers, and another belief is that they were abandoned by livestock ranchers in the early 1800s. Though the horses do typically show some sign of Spanish descent, their exact origin remains a matter of speculation. Regardless of the origination, this herd existed in the area prior to 1971, and is now protected by law.”

Does anyone else find it interesting that BLM stated genetic tests showed strong links of significance to the Spanish Barb horse, establishing this scientific fact through their own genetic tests yet today, they merely offer it as one of many “popular beliefs” and casually toss it out as only a “theory of speculation”?

Management
The Cerbat Herd Area spans approximately 83,000 acres and BLM reports that an appropriate management level (AML) has yet to be set for the Cerbat herds - the 1993 Kingman Plan stated that forage was allocated for only 14 wild horses.

BLM currently reports:
“About 70 wild horses roam the Cerbat Herd Area today. The population is relatively stable and recruitment is fairly low. It is believed that the high density of mountain lions within the Herd Area account for the low recruitment and stable population and because of this stable population, removals have not been necessary and the habitat has maintained a good range condition.”

“Body size of a Cerbat horse is typically small, with an average body weight ranging between 750-800 pounds and a height of 14 to 16 hands. The horses are predominately bays, with a high occurrence of roans including reds, strawberry and blue roans. Other colors include greys, blacks, sorrels and duns.”

This is what BLM said back in 1993-
“Through population monitoring, three separate wild horse use areas within the Cerbat Herd Management Area have been identified. These include the east slope of Cherum Peak, the west slope of Cherum Peak and Marble Canyon.”

Wonder if those 8 horses taken from Marble Canyon in 1989 were returned or if BLM has since zeroed this herd out, despite their documented historic presence?

American Herds has requested more information from BLM on this scientifically proven historic herd and will keep you posted….

Marble Canyon ~ Arizona

For Information on the Cerbat Preservation Society contact:

Julianneloveshorses@yahoo.com

All statistics and photo of Cerbat horses taken from BLMs Arizona website available at:

http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/whb/hmas/cerbat.html
and the 1993 Kingman Resource Management Plan http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/info/nepa/environmental_library/arizona_resource_management.html

Last of the Spanish Mustangs

Len Johnson's "Last of the Spanish Mustangs" is a recently released powerful documentary on America's wild horses and the road traveled by America's horses to the slaughterhouse.

Len describes his 20 years experience in broadcast and print and working as an anchor and reporter in Chicago, Phoenix and Baltimore that eventually drove him to making documentaries, "I have a degree in journalism and find that while you can tell a few good stories in television news, you never really get to tell the REAL story. That is what I want to do" and do it he does!

Here are a few excerpts for "Last of the Spanish Mustangs" website found at:http://www.lenjproductions.com/trailer.html

"I started out wanting to tell the cowboy’s side of wild horses. I wanted to follow a Bureau of Land Management “cowboy” on a roundup. I had been told the wild horse population was exploding. I was told wrong."

"This documentary centers on the Cerbat mustangs in Arizona, which face heavy kill from mountain lions and the constant threat of government removal. The BLM estimates their numbers at around 90...but there are really around 40 at the most. I go up there to see the animals. The BLM doesn’t, by their own admissions. At times, the BLM will round up a Cerbat if a rancher complains, and it is my belief that the herd will be gone in 20 years."

Having personally seen "Last of the Spanish Mustangs", I found it extremely well done. Mr. Johnson's courage allows us to go along for the ride as he finds the Cerbat Spanish Mustangs of Arizona and gets to know the herds, shows the corruption and obstructionism of state and federal law enforcement officials, slaughter plants, and the BLM throughout his journey as he travels to find and show the American public the truth behind what is really going on with America's horses.

As "Last of the Spanish Mustangs" has been making the rounds at film festivals known for quality journalism and documentaries, it was recently awarded the Special Jury Award at the Temecula International Film Festival and has been greeted with rave reviews.

Here is what the Santa Fe Film Festival had to say about this gripping documentary that clearly shows much of what America's horses, both wild and domestic, face today.

Santa Fe Film Festival
"Former television reporter Len Johnson looked into society's fascination with wild horses, specifically mustangs, and learned that most Americans are devoted to the myth of wild mustangs but not the reality. The myth: Wild and free, roaming the West, untamed, exultant in their own wildness and power. The reality: These horses are dwindling descendants of Spanish mustangs, treated with contempt by those charged with their care, hunted and slaughtered for dining tables abroad."

"Through interviews, extant footage and a gonzo documentary style that owes a lot to Michael Moore, Johnson is fearless (for he learns the West is dangerous) in researching and filming the plight of many horses and especially Spanish mustangs. Their heroes: People like Michael Blake, the author of DANCES WITH WOLVES, and Jim Baca, former mayor of Albuquerque . . Their enemies: mainly the Bureau of Land Management, which originally was called the U.S. Grazing Service and fronts for big cattle interests."

"There are scenes of horse slaughtering and processing from the three US plants -- two in Texas and one in Illinois . The result is a powerful documentary, packed with information, on an issue that most of us avoid." – Steven Davis

And Cinequest Online said:
"A new law railroaded through Congress by a Montana senator allows wild horse slaughter for the first time in over three decades. The government and politicians claim the horses are overpopulating and have no natural predators. The government lies. Blatantly."

At the Last of the Spanish Mustangs website, read Tense Moments as Len describes his treatment at the hands of Richard Sichling when he tried to get near the Pacific Livestock Company, or Baxter Black – the cowboy poet veterinarian who supports wild horse slaughter, or how commercial mainstream media was allowed to film while Mr. Johnson was told to stop!

This DVD is a must have for anyone interested in connecting to the majesty and spirit of our wild horse herds and seeing the truth of what is being done to America's horses behind the publics back.

Reasonably priced at $16.99 a companion DVD, Wild Spanish Mustangs is also now available for only $12.99. Len said "because so many people asked him about what it was like being around wild horses and where to find them that, I thought I'd offer a second DVD of just wild horses in the wild."

Click Here

To learn more about this rare and courageous documentary or to order a your own personal copy of "Last of the Spanish Mustangs" or "Wild Spanish Mustangs". You won't be disappointed!

Thank You Len!

The Greatest Herd - Part II

In October 2007, BLM released a round up plan for the Nevada Wild Horse Range horses to finally reduce this last, greatest herd to merely 300. This proposal also had plans to possibly include 75 geldings as part of the 300 wild horses BLM would allow to remain yet BLM postponed issuing a final decision in favor of other round ups in Nevada. It is now tentatively scheduled for December 2008.

BLM estimates around 1,200 wild horses currently roam Nellis. Why so many? Because BLM has yet to remove any wild horses since approving the lower wild horse populations that ended their reign as the largest free-roaming wild horse herds in the West.

Also, it was only after all the changes were approved that results from genetic tests were finally published, which determined the Nellis wild horses had strong Spanish Mustang ancestry, a rare genetic trait now extinct in Spain and listed as threatened among historical breeders.

At one time, cattle were allowed to graze much of the wild horse range and BLM reports that until the late 1970’s, 6,000 to 8,000 cattle grazed in the ranges of Nellis. By the mid-80’s, almost all livestock grazing had been revoked due to military concerns and only a very limited amount of grazing is still authorized. Though small, BLM was required to include information on this livestock grazing when they evaluated the area for appropriate wild horse use back in 2003.

Look at the stark contrast in attitude between wild horses and livestock as BLM writes: (1)

Livestock Grazing Management, page 4-9: “The springs and riparian areas are the most important resource, and could be protected with exclosures. Water could be piped outside the exclosures to ensure animals have adequate water supply, therefore not needlessly suffering from severe thirst.”

Yet when it comes to wild horses needless suffering from severe thirst BLM writes under Unavoidable Adverse Impacts, page 4-14, “Fencing spring and riparian areas would have a direct impact on wild horses that frequent the areas. Some springs would be closed off and no water provided for the horses. There is direct benefit to fencing the spring area to improve the quality of the water and riparian habitat.”

Photo courtesy of American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
www.wildhorsepreservation.com

Water has become the hammer and BLM is fond of quoting the lack of it as the reasons for all they do.

What they don’t tell us or try to hide is, buried in their dusty archives are decisions issued like the one above, consistently removing access to any water sources wild horses and burros need to survive while finding ways to redirect it to livestock and big game animals instead.

When BLM redrew the new boundaries for the Nellis wild horses, they removed water sources. They told the public they would apply for water rights on wells the wild horses could use instead but those plans have merely sat on a shelf with BLM reluctant to even discuss the issue, despite emergency removals conducted last summer due to lack of water. BLM planned on repairing water developments long past functional use but those too are still on hold.

In May 2007, United States Fish & Wildlife and the military were proposing to fence every single water source on the entire range, over 100 of them, with no wild horse access while the fences would still allow big game animals in reported as continuing to flourish and expand throughout the area.

The 2004 decision stated wild horses would have 14 out of 20 known springs they could still use but by October 2007, BLM stated only 5 were providing any water at all.

When recently pressed for answers and accountability to these “management plans” that have failed to materialize and have caused “needless suffering from severe thirst”, BLM has now proposed drafting a Herd Management Area Plan to outline new strategies for the Nellis herds and a series of unconfirmed rumors about what direction BLM intends to go with these plans have started to fly.

This has led to a moral dilemma. If American Herds reports “rumors”, will credibility be lost? Will letting people know what BLM may be planning for our wild horses cause BLM to change their secret plans? Provide fuel for their ever-popular“overly-emotional-lack-of-objective-data-hysteria-corp’s-wild-horse-advocates” propaganda and spin they depend on so heavily?

Yet so much is done in secret, done so fast, done without the public having time or resources to challenge them once the wheels are set in motion, it is almost impossible to stop them once they begin executing their strategic plans - knowing what to look for when the time comes may be invaluable to the people who care about preserving this oldest and greatest wild horse range.

So in keeping with Las Vegas tradition, American Herds is going to gamble, spread the rumors, see what sinks or swims. The lives and future of our wild horses hangs in the balance and they are worth the risk.

Rumor #1: BLM has already released geldings back out on the range but has yet to approve this through any formal process. It was a quiet experiment BLM is now getting ready to officially act on.

Rumor #2: BLM will propose managing geldings on a permanent basis on the Nevada Wild Horses Range in their upcoming Herd Management Area Plan. Once approved (which is expected to be guaranteed), BLM will never have to include the fact that they are and will continue to castrate stallions and return them to the range on Nellis in any and all future round up proposals. BLM will merely make a vague reference forevermore by citing something like, “Wild horse removals and returns will be conducted in accordance with the strategic plans outlined in the Herd Management Area Plan approved in 2008”.

Rumor #3: A wild horse advocate attended the recent National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting in Tuscon, AZ and has sent a message of concern and questions about what was being proposed for the Nevada Wild Horse Range. Efforts are being made to get more information but the rumor is…

BLM is considering completely zeroing out the entire reproductive herd and replacing them exclusively with the geldings now being held in long-term containment facilities in order to reduce holding costs. Once introduced, the entire 1.3 million acres could technically become available for long-term free range “holding” of these geldings.

The catch? No public access due to high levels of military security measures, no independent census or counts of the geldings being shipped into the base, no possibility of tracking them and no way of knowing what is happening once they have been shipped to this “forbidden zone”.

Nellis is one of the most restrictive areas in the wild horse and burro program and for decades has been plagued with rumors about wild horses being used for target practice, poisoned water holes, and internal lotteries awarded to the most proficient marksman.

If BLM chooses to eliminate the functioning herds and uses this place to ship our geldings instead, in essence, they will disappear from the wild horse and burro program, known only by an unverified number BLM writes on their annual reports.

So let us all hope that every one of these rumors turns out to be just that – merely a rumor and BLM will choose to step up to the plate and finally provide the water they promised so long ago for the Nellis wild horses instead.


Photo of "Dead Horse" may be used for educational purposes as long as American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is credited as the source.

(1) United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Las Vegas Field Office, Proposed Nevada Test & Training Range Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, May 2003, Section 4.4.9, Livestock Grazing Management, Section 4.5.2 Unavoidable Adverse Impacts

The Greatest Herd - Part I

As those charged with wild horse and burro protection begin drafting plans to sterilize our herds, their eyes turn once again towards the Nevada Wild Horse Range, aka Nellis, as the backdrop to continue their experiments aimed towards the wild horse and burro wipe outs.

The Nevada Wild Horse Range was established in June 1962 in response to America’s over whelming love of wild horses. It was the first of its kind, created through a cooperative agreement between the BLM Nevada State Director and the Commander of Nellis Air Force Base and finally offered a place for wild horses to live in peace - free from brutal hunting, poisoning and slaughter.

The Range originally spanned 435,00 acres but was reduced to 394,000 acres in June of 1965 and BLM inherited the Nevada Wild Horse Range in 1971 due to the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Though wild burros were also recognized on the NWHR in 1974 with plans to manage for them, somehow their "federally protected status" was circumvented and in 1993 BLM removed the last 126 wild burros and now manages the Range “burro free”.

In 1985, BLM established a Herd Management Plan for the NWHR that proposed an AML of 2,000 wild horses with 4,000 to 5,000 wild horses estimated as roaming throughout the Range(1) but in 1991, BLM approved a 50% reduction and formally established the AML of 1,000 wild horses.

By 1993, the NWHR was home to the largest wild horse herd in America as populations peaked to nearly 10,000 strong.

Due to the constant ongoing military operations, BLM had great difficulty accessing the NWHR and wild horse numbers swelled until reaching critical levels, which resulted in a crisis that caused many to die of dehydration and starvation.

Because of the high populations of wild horses on the NWHR, BLM determined the herds would make excellent candidates for fertiliy control experiments, so in 1996 the NWHR mares became one of the first to receive the fertility control injections and it has been used on them ever since.

The proper management of wild horses on a restricted military base has always been an issue for BLM as a lack of access has complicated trying to manage them due to the highly restrictive nature of the ongoing military operations. On January 29, 1997, BLM published a Wild Horse and Burro Evaluation for the NWHR with the evaluating team recommending BLM no longer be responsible for managing the wild horses or the Range.

In 2004, BLM drew up new plans for the NWHR that approved some pretty radical changes including cutting the AML again by another 50% with a new AML of 300-500 wild horses as well as dramatically increasing the Herd Management Area to 1.3 million acres.

Despite this massive increase, BLM redrew the boundaries of where wild horses will now be allowed by declaring only one third of the Range as the “core management” area; any wild horses found outside this area will be considered “outside the HMA” and removed. This includes the herds of Kawich Valley, one of the three most well known and documented herds on Nellis and BLM knew when they approved these plans they were approving the permanent wipe out the Kawich Valley herds.

Here is a map of the Nevada Wild Horse Range in 1992.



Here is a map of the new boundaries BLM approved in 2004.



Here is a map of documented wild horses between 1972-1974.




If all this wasn’t enough, now they want to castrate the stallions too?


For more on the Nellis wild horses, click on these links to other American Herds stories.
Nellis – Keeping It Safe

What Happens In Nellis, Stays in Nellis
Update: BLM reported that the wild horse featured in the What Happens In Nellis, Stays in Nellis was a mistake and was merely mismarked as being captured at Nellis.

For a copy of the BLM 1992 Wild Horse and Burro Evaluation, Click Here.

BLM has removed all links to electronic access of the September 2007,

Nellis Wild Horse Range – Preliminary Gather Plan, EA# NV-052-2007-362.
(1) United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Las Vegas Field Office, Proposed Nevada Test & Training Range Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, May 2003, pg. 3-46, as well as all maps used.

Going Gelding?

As the National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board’s 2/25/08 meeting draws near, rumors have been flying that managing wild gelding herds is the hottest topic currently on the table.

A review of prior Advisory Board minutes has revealed that indeed, what to do with geldings has been of special interest in the past to both BLM and Advisory Board members with subjects ranging from lowering age limits of when to start castrating stallions, how to promote gelding adoptions, and costs associated with long-term holding.

It appears the subject of gelding herds first began when the Advisory Board asked BLM to look into “storing” geldings now in long-term holding facilities in vacant livestock grazing allotments because the Board was looking for ways to reduce holding costs.

It took BLM two years to get back to the Board with an answer they summed up in one sentence and I’ve summed up even further - not feasible. The BLM provided no explanation as to how or why they came up with this final answer, so it looks like we’re just going to have to take their word for it and trust their conclusions.

In the same breath BLM announced this was not an option, they smoothly switched the focus from moving current long-term holding geldings to presenting the Board with an “alternative” of managing wild gelding herds in the HMAs instead. In other words, BLM has determined it isn’t feasible to take geldings out of long-term holding but it may be feasible to return gelded stallions after the round ups back to the range.

The Las Vegas Field Office has already proposed doing this twice but so far hasn't followed through and top BLM officials have affirmed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse & Burro Act allows for sterilization and are confident wild gelding herds can withstand any legal challenge.

So here’s some food for thought…….

• What kind of effect will adding geldings have to the already controversial issue of genetically viable herds? If geldings will now be included in the maximum populations allowed, won’t this create the illusion that wild herds are more genetically viable than they really are?
  
  For example, if a herd has an AML of 100 but BLM gelds 20 of the stallions and return them to the range, in actuality only 80 wild horses are now capable of breeding. When someone looks at the AML, unless they know that geldings have been included in that herd, they will think the herds are more genetically viable than they really are.
  
  But then again, that’s the best-case scenario. When BLM rounds up wild horses and burros, they usually leave only 40% of what “high” AML is. So after BLM rounds up those same 100 wild horses, they would usually remove about 60 of them and leave 40. What happens if 20 of those are now geldings? Isn’t the breeding population now only 20? And what about horses too old or too young to breed in the 20 now left?
  
  And once BLM begins gelding them, will they have to tell the public every time they geld more or only the first time? Will they start with a proposal that gelds 20 stallions but will more be gelded every time they do a round up? Will they be required to tell us “We plan on gelding 5 more? 10 more? 20 more? Or will they just do it based on their own best judgment?

• Will BLM be able to use gelding herds in conjunction with fertility control drugs on mares?
  
  BLM has administered the experimental fertility control drug PZP to many of the wild horse herds over the last few years but has yet to publish much in terms of its effectiveness, impacts or side effects (if any). Should BLM be allowed to start gelding stallions before they are absolutely sure that PZP hasn’t harmed the reproductive capabilities of the herds?
  
  
• Will there be a minimum population established before BLM can even consider adding geldings or fertility control to the herds to keep them viable?
  
  
• Who will decide when and how many foals will be allowed? What rate of population growth are they aiming for?
  
  These are just a few of the issues looming on the horizon……..
  
  BLM has already written a draft paper on the subject and presented it to the Advisory Board titled “Options for Managing a Non Breeding Component Within Self-Sustaining Herds of Wild Horses” (July 2006).
  
  Click Here to read excerpts from previous Advisory Board meetings regarding gelding management.
  
  

  SPECIAL FEATURE
  

  
  American Herds will now feature a new section titled “Advisory Board” with links to BLMs website for easy access to the National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Boards meeting minutes, recommendations, current Board members as well as now providing you the opportunity to post your Board submissions publicly. Check it out!
  

For Everything Else

In 1999, the Lincoln County Elk Management Plan was approved within BLMs Ely Nevada District and overlapped 14 wild horse Herd Management Areas and 116 grazing allotments. The Elk Management plan cited there was no recorded evidence that elk had occurred within Lincoln county prior to 1979 when big game specialist brought them in.

In 2003, 12 of those overlapping Herd Management Areas saw a reduction in wild horse and burro AMLs in one fell swoop as BLM cut the allowable wild horse population from 884 to 644 within all 14 HMAs, a loss of 240 wild horses in an area that spans 2.6 million acres.

Meanwhile, the 1999 Elk Management Plan approved an eventual population of 1,850 elk within this same area and would have outnumbered wild horses by almost 3-1.

I say would have because in December 2007, the Ely Field Office released their Final Resource Management Plan, still pending approval, which proposes the complete elimination of 16 HMAs in the area with the main reason given as lack of water.

If BLMs plan is approved (which it probably will be), 1.6 million more acres of wild horse and burro habitat will be lost and all the wild horses within them will be permanently removed.

Here is a map provided in 1999 of the various water sources in the elk management area.

Here is a map of the wild horse and burro HMAs that overlap the elk management area.

Here is a map of the HMAs overlayed on the water sources.

Of the 16 HMAs BLM intends to zero out for all wild horse use, 11 of them are in the same area as the 1999 Elk Management Plan.

One of these wild horse areas planned for complete removals is the Rattlesnake HMA. While it may indeed by as "nasty" as it sounds in terms of habitat, BLM had noted in a recent livestock grazing proposal that the Rattlesnake Allotments only riparian area was documented as being “heavily utilized” by elk, as well as, “the spring vegetation hadn’t recovered since 2002 because of elk abuse and livestock utilizing the burned area moderately.”

Wild horses are even hardier than elk so how come the habitat is good enough for elk but not wild horses? How come elk can live there and trash the riparian areas for at least 5 years and nothing is done about it while wild horses were scheduled for removals twice in the same HMAs in the same year "to protect the range".

Another of those proposed for permanent elimination is the Highland Peak HMA, which American Herds did a story on back in October titled "Forage Anyone?" In addition to elk within the area, Click Here to read how BLM is managing the livestock in the HMAs too!

Over and over again it seems there is room for everything in the "thriving ecological balance" but wild horses and burros.

Photo of Clover Mountain wild horse removed in December 2006 and one of the HMAs proposed to be zeroed out.

(1) 1999 Lincoln County Elk Management Plan, pg. 4
(2) United States Department of the Interior, BLM Ely Field Office, Rattlesnake Allotment-EA #NV-040-07-016.

The Thriving Ecological Balance

When I first began learning about wild horses and burros, it started with being told that the Las Vegas area didn’t have enough water to support them – that’s why they had to go – for their own protection and the protection of the range. But when I looked a little deeper, I found out that wasn’t exactly true.

Turned out there were a lot more water sources around than BLM was counting and much of what they were telling the public was convoluted at best.

Finding out the truth began with asking a question about hundreds of thousands of acres that disappeared from the Herd Areas and it took a couple of months before BLM finally coughed up the answers.

Turned out, this acreage went to U.S. Forest Service in a land transfer two decades ago. Following the trail back, it also turned out the U.S. Forest Service just happened to get the majority of the springs in that land transfer leaving BLM – and the wild horses and burros – with very little left under BLM control. (1)

Then U.S. Forest Service made a few changes. The first was to completely exclude wild horses and burros from the top 100,000 acres in the area where the majority of these springs occurred and no wild horse and burro use became the new “policy”.

Then, for the areas wild horses and burros were still allowed, U.S. Forest Service gave them a water allocation, 7% to be exact, while the transplanted elk population was issued 15%. Sure, BLM is still the “lead agency” in management when it comes to removals but USFS sets the majority of the land use policies and resource allocations - then BLM just mostly handles the removals from there. (2)

I began noticing an emphasis on the “thriving ecological balance” wild horses and burros were removed to protect was heavily weighted towards the “native” wildlife, often the central focus in decision after decision where wild horses and burros kept getting removed or disappearing altogether.

So began the journey of looking around at just what exactly comprised this “thriving ecological balance” they kept getting squeezed out from and that led to checking out State Fish & Game big game statistics on the other “major resources users” within the areas.

That led to the realization that hunting was big business and successful “educational programs” conducted by the stewards of hunting, often the scientists that produced the studies that justified their conclusions - Horses and burros bad/native wildlife good - somehow managed to turn wild into feral in the minds of an increasingly environmentally conscious public as they exploited people’s concern about wildlife habitat loss due to mankinds resource exploitation to favor these big game species instead.

So now when I hear wild horses and burros must be reduced and removed to protect the “native” species, the first thing on my To Do List is to check just what are the actual populations of those native species, something I might add is often not easily found.

When Montana announced that there just wasn’t room for any more wild horses in the “thriving ecological balance” regarding the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, even though Montana is now down to their last herd out of the six that were originally protected in 1971, I decided to go check out what Montana DID have room for.

Turned out, Montana has a lot of room, just not for wild horses. Here are some current statistics:

Montana stretches for 2,000 square miles, is home to barely 1 million people(3), contains 2.4 million cattle, 290,000 sheep and 180,000 pigs(4), 130,000-160,000 elk, 5,900 Rocky Mountain bighorn, and so many mule deer and pronghorn antelope Montana State Fish & Game can even count them all. (5)

That’s right, up to 160,000 elk and 5,900 Rocky Mountain bighorn. Apparently the habitat is a little more abundant everywhere else in Montana except in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range where the “allowable” maximum number of wild horses in the entire state is 105 - anything more is deemed excessive and begins to endanger the thriving ecological balance.

So just within the State of Montana, if you substituted wild horses and burros for elk, you could fit the entire current national “appropriate management level” of every single wild horse and burro throughout the West (27,500), PLUS every wild horse currently being held in long-term containment that was deemed “excessive” (30,000), three times over.

So here’s some other fun facts about elk populations and wild horses and burros.

• Montana Fish & Game estimate that 60% of their Elk Management Units are above population objectives.
  
• Colorado recently saw BLM declare the West Douglas Herd in Colorado, which spans 128k acres with an estimated 120 wild horses, as “unfit” for wild horse use. Only 4 herds remain out of 8 with a state “appropriate management level” of 812 wild horses. Meanwhile, Colorado’s 2007 estimated elk population is 250,000 to 260,000 and reports that the elk herds have been 10-15% above population management objectives for over 20 years.
  
• The White River-Flat Tops region is home to the largest migratory elk herd on earth – 40,000 elk, which just also happens to be about 12,000 more than the “approved” population throughout the West of both wild horses and burros!
  
• The combined estimated elk populations in 2007 for just Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming is 675,000-700,000 elk. The gap of population estimates is almost as large as America’s entire remaining free-roaming wild horse and burro populations.
  

  
  ~Here is the actual breakdown of elk to wild horses*~

~Colorado~
250,000-260,000 Elk ~ 812 Wild Horses

~Idaho~
125,000 Elk ~ 617 Wild Horses

~Montana~
130,000-160,000 Elk ~ 105 Wild Horses

~Wyoming~
90,000 Elk ~ 3,725 Wild Horses

~Utah~
63,000 Elk ~ 1,981 Wild Horses ~ 170 Wild Burros

*AML is used to show what BLM believes is “appropriate” since wild horse numbers that exceed AML are removed.

Elk Photo from Elk Management in 5 Western States – Montana.
(1) Difference in acreage noted between BLMs Fiscal Year 2004 and 2005 Herd Statistics for Red Rock HMA, Wheeler Pass HMA, and Johnnie HMA. Land Transfer explanation from personal letter sent from United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Nevada State Office, Margaret L. Jensen, Deputy State Director, Natural Resources, Land & Planning, 9/19/06
(2) General Management Plan for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, An Amendment to the Land and Resource Management Plan, Toiyabe National Forest
(3) U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts, Accessed 2/11/08 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/30000.html
(4) USDA Montana State Agriculture Overview – 2006, Accessed 2/11/08 http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Ag_Overview/AgOverview_MT.pdf
All Elk statistics taken from "Elk Management of 5 Westerns States" available at Montana Fish & Game http://fwp.mt.gov/default.html
All Wild Horse and Burro Statistics taken from BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program website and Fiscal Year 2007 Herd Statistics.